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Apple’s New iPhone

Apple Inc. unveiled on Sept. 12 the hotly anticipated iPhone 5, a thinner, faster device designed to bolster the company’s momentum in the mobile industry. The new smartphone starts at $199 for a 16-gigabyte model with a two-year service contract, on sale in nine countries on Sept. 21.

Avoid Touch ID, Says Kremlin Ally

By James Marson

MOSCOW—Pro-Kremlin politician Vitaly Milonov has warned state officials not to buy an iPhone 5S in case the U.S. security services get hold of their fingerprints.

Mr. Milonov, a St. Petersburg politician most famous for spearheading local legislation against gay “propaganda” that was later adopted nationwide, called on Russian security officials to look into how the fingerprint scanner, known as Touch ID, works.

“There’s no guarantee that fingerprints from the 5S won’t end up in American security services’ databases,” Mr. Milonov told Interfax news agency. “It has a ring of truth about it.”

Mr. Milonov—a member of the ruling United Russia Party—isn’t the only politician to raise concerns about the scanner, used for unlocking the new iPhone in place of a password. Sen. Al Franken wrote to Apple Inc. questioning how the company will use the fingerprint data.

Apple says Touch ID stores a mathematical representation of the fingerprint that is encrypted and stored on the phone and nowhere else. “Only Touch ID uses it and it can’t be used to match against other fingerprint databases,” the company says on its website.

Mr. Milonov admitted he would still buy an iPhone 5S, although only for personal use and with Touch ID turned off.